Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Administrators' Insights Into The Preparation And Performance Of New Teachers, Sarah J. Kaka, Jennifer A. Tygret

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

There are few studies that focus on the perceptions and experiences of school administrators toward new teachers; however, understanding of both are required for accreditation. Furthermore, the school administrators’ perceptions of the training, as well as teachers’ performance and impact on student learning during their first years of teaching is vital to determine how new teachers are performing in the classroom. This case study explored these perceptions and three main themes emerged: Indicators of New Teacher Effectiveness, Evidence of Impact on Student Learning, and Identified Areas for Growth. Insight for understanding ways to improve teacher preparation are included.

Evaluating Alternative High Schools: Program Evaluation In Action, Drew Samuel Wayne Hinds

Dissertations and Theses

Alternative high schools serve some of the most vulnerable students and their programs present a significant challenge to evaluate. Determining the impact of an alternative high school that serves mostly at-risk students presented a significant research problem. Few studies exist that dig deeper into the characteristics and strategies of successful alternative schooling. Moreover valid program evaluation methods to identify successful alternative school practices are hit and miss. As a result, public policy and systems of accountability have either disregarded information relating to alternative high schools or unjustifiably included them in comparisons with traditional high schools.

This dissertation studied the issue …

Designing Innovative Alternatives To Traditional High Schools: What Leaders Need To Know, Chester Roy Edwards

Dissertations and Theses

The need for new and innovative alternatives to traditional high schools has never been greater. Never designed to graduate all students on time, traditional high schools and their high dropout rates have remained unchanged for the last 30 years. Improving secondary schooling for all young people is a worthwhile social and educational objective. Many school leaders want to create alternative high schools but may lack the knowledge of what to do, nor may they have a comprehensive design process to follow.

The research question explored in this dissertation is: What do leaders in education need to know to design innovative …

Developing The Instructional Leadership Skills Of High School Principals In Tanzania: A Problem-Based Learning Approach, Peter N. Siamoo

Dissertations and Theses

Underachievement among secondary students in Tanzania is tragic: the failure rate on the national exams after the fourth year is between 65 to 100 percent (Mushi, 2011). The literature affirms that student learning is primarily improved by enhancing quality classroom instruction while the second most impactful strategy is consistent school leadership to ensure that effective practices are utilized in the classroom (Blase & Blase, 2004; Chenoweth & Everhart, 2002; Fink & Markholt, 2011; Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004; Leithwood, Harris, & Strauss, 2010; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005). Despite the research, the researcher's pilot study revealed that there is …

Right Directions, Wrong Maps: Understanding The Involvement Of Low-Ses African American Parents To Enlist Them As Partners In College Choice, Michael J. Smith

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

While research extols the benefits of parent involvement in college choice, low SES African American parents are increasingly less able to match the efforts of wealthier parents. A qualitative methodology is used to explore the lives 5 urban African American single parents whose low-SES parents encouraged education for postsecondary advancement. The study found that the high school diploma was the normative credential for upward mobility in their communities. Their parents used narratives of struggle to encourage their children while utilizing maps that helped navigate the road towards a high school diploma. It concludes that a high level of involvement already …

Institutional Transformation As Scholarly Activity: The Experience Of Portland State University, Charles R. White, Judith A. Ramaley

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

In American higher education, change is continuous but occurs most often at the margins, generally taking the form of piecemeal or isolated efforts and programs. Only rarely are change projects comprehensive in their scope and transformative in their effects. In this chapter we describe the context for comprehensive curricular change at Portland State University and offer a more general theoretical construct about institutional change in higher education. That there are so few examples of comprehensive institutional change in American higher education is indicative of the complex mix of internal and external factors that constrain change efforts. We have found that …

Scharp: Opening The Door To Systems Change, Leslie G. Mcbride

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The majority of policymakers, educators, and the public at large agree that public education needs reform. However, the nature and extent of changes are discussed and debated. Some promote the newest curricula,the latest teaching innovation, or the freshest administrative style (Sashkin & Egermeier, n.d). Others regard these approaches as piecemeal solutions that "tinker at the edges" of the real problem (Reigeluth, in press). The real problem, they say, is an ailing education system requiring fundamental, systemic changes through basic restructuring(Corbett, 1990; O'Neil, 1993; Reigeluth, in press; Sashkin & Egermeier,n. d.). These two approaches bracket a solution continuum ranging from minor …

A Performance Appraisal Model For Postsecondary Education, Peggy Connolly

Dissertations and Theses

Purpose. Although performance appraisal is an important factor in the successful operation of organizations, it is often a difficult and threatening task. Traditional approaches to evaluation have proved to be neither effective nor in legal compliance. This problem affects postsecondary institutions, where customary subjective appraisal contributes to undesirable employment discrimination.

This study provides postsecondary administrators with an effective and legally defensible model of performance appraisal. Research addressed these questions: (1) What does statutory law mandate in appraisal? (2) What issues, patterns, and decisions concerning appraisal have been identified through the judicial process, and what degree of consistency has been shown …

The Portland State University Educational Center: A Study Of A New Approach To Off-Campus Education, Harvey L. Rice

Dissertations and Theses

The P.S.U. Educational Center is an attempt to facilitate the access of Portland's inner city residents to higher education. It is an attempt to overcome the bitterness, defeatism and mistrust that many of these people feel toward education. In its four year history the Center has grown rapidly. The number of people served by the Center per term has risen from 15 in 1969 to 1,300 in 1972. Course offerings have increased from 5 to nearly 30. The Center offers both college credit and other types of courses at nominal fees. An evaluation of the Center--based in part on a …